The Central Australian Affordable Housing Company (CAAHC) is sad to announce the loss of our contract with the Department of Housing to provide Tenancy Management Services to the residents of Alice Springs Town Camps.

CAAHC CEO Sally Langton said the organisation had been successfully providing services to Town Camp residents for almost five years.

“We have built up a level of expertise in providing these services and developed good relationships with residents over this time,” Ms Langton said.

“We entered the tender process with the hope of implementing a new service model that would improve services to the community resulting in better tenancy outcomes for residents and the Department of Housing.

“Unfortunately CAAHC has been unsuccessful in this process.

“We were informed late on New Year’s Eve we had lost the contract, which has cut to the soul of our organisation and partners.

“We are now facing a very challenging future.

“As a not for profit community housing organisation, we have proudly employed many Aboriginal people over the last five years and sadly the majority of our staff will lose their employment in the next few weeks.

“We have written to Chief Minister Adam Giles and Housing Minister Bess Price explaining the impact of this procurement decision, which appears to be in contravention of the Chief Minister’s aims of supporting Indigenous business and jobs.

“Both Ministers have been very supportive of CAAHC’s work in the past, with Minister Price recognising CAAHC has runs on the board and is held in high esteem. (Minister Price Media Release 28 Aug, 2015)

“CAAHC will continue to provide community housing options to the Alice Springs community and we look forward to new opportunities to work with government and the NGO sector to grow the organisation and become a benchmark community housing provider for many Aboriginal people.”